The Community Relations Department of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) headed by the Deputy Director, Superintendent Samuel Sao Conteh has on Wednesday 5 October 2022 continued its nonviolent peace message at Swissey, Belgium in the Central Part of Freetown and in Congo Town Community. According to the Deputy Director, the nonviolence peace message was to raise awareness among young people not to be involved in violence before, during, and after elections as the 2023 general elections approach.
Speaking to a cross-section of young people in Belgium, Superintendent Samuel Sao Conteh reechoed that the August 10 violence which claimed the lives of over 20 Sierra Leoneans including 6 police officers did not send any good signal to the international community, so therefore he said their nonviolence message was to remind people that violence is not the answer to conflict. He cautioned that youths should not involve in violence because they felt aggrieved and in the end, they would end up at Pademba Road Prison.
He emphasized that violence has no place in society and that whosoever is involved should face the full force of the law, noting that youths should stop listening to fake social media messages which have the tendency of creating unrest in the community.
“Our messages here today are very much simple. We are here to talk to the youths because they are mostly involved in violence. So do not listen to bad messages from social media. We all see what happened on August 10 this year, some of us lost our loved ones; we should not attempt anything like lawlessness. Lawlessness has no place in society. We have gone through a lot in this country, we have gone through war, Ebola, and CoronaVirus, and so the SLP is calling on all of us to stay away from violence” he cautioned.
He reiterated that the Police” is our friend” and they should be treated wisely, adding that they have the obligation to keep the country in peace and which is why they have embarked on nonviolent peace messages across the country.
From the side of the youths, the Vice Chairman for Belgium Sellers, Amara Sillah called on members of their organization’s extension to the youths to abstain from violence and stop listening to bad politicians who are in the habit of giving drugs to young people to cause mayhem. Sillah said the Police have the mandate to uphold peace and tranquility and therefore every Sierra Leoneans should embrace peace as “peace is the only answer to develop a nation”.
He also called on the Police to be neutral in dispensing their duties as they too have the responsibility of keeping people together. “We are very much pleased for such an engagement, we continue to look forward to such an event as we are approaching the 2023 general elections,” he said.
